MUSIC REVIEW

MUSIC REVIEW; Battle and Hampson: All Charm in a Parade of Hits

By JAMES R. OESTREICH

Published: March 3, 1995

As so often happens when big, dominating personalities come together onstage, the concert by the soprano Kathleen Battle and the baritone Thomas Hampson on Wednesday evening at Avery Fisher Hall had perhaps more to do with showmanship than it did with music. The program, which was presented to benefit Lincoln Center and telecast by PBS on "Live From Lincoln Center," offered so many sure-fire hits that the only suspense was what the singers could possibly do for an encore.

In fact, the encore, Irving Berlin's "You're Just in Love," provided the real spontaneity of the evening, when Ms. Battle forgot some lines and trouped on charmingly through her obvious panic. Even in a reprise of the encore (presumably off camera), with the singers making a grand show of referring to the music, Ms. Battle repeated a line, but the good humor came as welcome relief from the studied veneer of the rest of the program.

Oh, it was all entertaining enough, hearing the likes of Kern's "All the Things You Are," Gershwin's "Summertime" and Arlen's "Over the Rainbow" sung by true professionals, even if they were professionals skirting the limits of their expertise.

Ms. Battle had great sport with her chestnut "Myself I Shall Adore," from Handel's "Semele." Mr. Hampson carried matters to a more serious plane, briefly, with arias from Massenet's "Herodiade" and Korngold's "Tote Stadt."

They made a good match in "La ci darem la mano," from Mozart's "Don Giovanni," not least at the end, when this Don physically hauled Ms. Battle's Zerlina from the stage. Neither singer seemed wholly free in the fioritura of "Dunque io son" from Rossini's "Barbiere di Siviglia."

In general, Mr. Hampson sounded fresher and stronger than Ms. Battle. From the bluster of the "Bill" soliloquy from "Carousel" to the finesse of Pierrot's Tanzlied from "Die Tote Stadt," superbly delivered, he was at the top of his form.

Ms. Battle, though singing prettily for the most part, strained for a few high notes and seemed labored in much of her breathing. She used a microphone in some of the pops fare, and when Mr. Hampson did likewise in Berlin's duet "An Old-Fashioned Wedding," he was probably acting out of gallantry rather than need.

The expert backup band, the Orchestra of St. Luke's, was ably led by John Nelson, who was almost painfully self-effacing around the stars. But he opened the program halves in robust fashion, first with Rossini's "Barbiere" Overture, then with Bernstein's "Candide" Overture.